1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a snowboard boot having a soft boot-shaped inside portion and a boot-shaped outside portion that has a soft shaft.
2. Description of Background and Material Information
Depending upon whether one is riding alpine or freestyle, one uses essentially two types of boots and bindings in snowboarding.
For alpine snowboarding, one uses hard boots that, like ski boots, comprise a soft inside shoe and a hard plastic outer shell, the outer shell being provided on the calf with a high back portion or spoiler. The binding used is a plate-shaped binding designed like a ski tour binding.
The snowboarder stands transversely on the snowboard. That is, to do a curve he moves either forward ("frontside turn") or backward ("backside turn"). While the force that can be applied to the snowboard with the foot suffices for a frontside turn, there are problems with a backside turn for anatomical reasons. This is the reason for the spoiler, which acts as a lever.
In contrast to alpine snowboarding, the freestyle snowboarder should have high lateral mobility. This is, he should be able to bend his legs to the side quite far, possibly so far that he touches the snowboard with his knee.
Snowboard boots for freestyle riding have a soft, padded, boot-shaped inside portion, and the boot-shaped outside portion is provided with a soft cloth shaft. The freestyle or soft boot thus has substantially only a warming and cushioning function, while the foot is held on the snowboard and forces are transmitted from the foot to the snowboard by means of the binding. To permit backside turns to be performed with such a freestyle boot, the binding for these boots is provided with a spoiler. When the legs are bent to the side, they are turned out of the spoiler fastened on the binding. The spoiler thus loses effect, so that backside turns with legs bent to the side are very difficult to perform with the known freestyle boot and binding set.